Typically however petrol companies have a "standard list price" for petrol. The price of petrol varies where in the country you are, in some it will be above this, in some it will be below this where they are subject to competition from Gull and their cheap'n'nasty tax dodging 91 fuel.

sbiddle: Probably depends entirely on the context you're using it in..

Typically however petrol companies have a "standard list price" for petrol. The price of petrol varies where in the country you are, in some it will be above this, in some it will be below this where they are subject to competition from Gull and their cheap'n'nasty tax dodging 91 fuel.

The reason I ask is I saw an advert for fuel card with a guaranteed 6c off, but the small print says off the national list price, so I was curious to know what it was.

sbiddle: Probably depends entirely on the context you're using it in..

Typically however petrol companies have a "standard list price" for petrol. The price of petrol varies where in the country you are, in some it will be above this, in some it will be below this where they are subject to competition from Gull and their cheap'n'nasty tax dodging 91 fuel.

The reason I ask is I saw an advert for fuel card with a guaranteed 6c off, but the small print says off the national list price, so I was curious to know what it was.

That is interesting. I guess you have to ring their head office for th definition, and I suspect in some places it may be higher than the 6 cent discount you would get. I presume all petrol stations would know their list price.

You are better use something like the AA Smartfuel card, because it's 6c/l off of the pump price and if you happen to be anywhere where there is a Gull petrol station, both BP & Caltex often pretty well price-match Gull and then you get a further 6c/l off of that.

e.g. I was in Hastings two weekends ago where the prevailing price was 2.139 elsewhere, Gull was 2.039 and the local BP was matching that price. Using a Smartfuel card at BP took a further 6c/l off of that.

Agree with the AA SmartFuel card but I only go to Caltex and not BP. Up here in Whangarei I think our petrol prices are usually cheaper than most of the country probably because of Gull. The price can vary quite a bit though. EG: Just today BP have 91 at 207.9 while Z have it at 200.9. The other day I saw BP was at 217.9 and it only stayed there for a day.

It is a bit rough around the edges and could do with some work around the suburbs as it doesn't have a list but has some up to date data and looks like they are going to expand the capabilities of the price watch.

Cheers, Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

in my experience, shopping around for petrol usually isn't worth the effort.

realistically the saving you might make (might!) by going to a different service station is typically going to save you maybe $5. Since the prices vary all the time you are going to have to do your research each time you fill up and if it takes, say, 20 mins to actually do the research and drive the further distance to the cheaper station then you have 'worked' for only $15/hour. (plus any extra petrol you use driving to a more distant station). that's barely more than minimum wage.

NonprayingMantis: in my experience, shopping around for petrol usually isn't worth the effort.

realistically the saving you might make (might!) by going to a different service station is typically going to save you maybe $5. Since the prices vary all the time you are going to have to do your research each time you fill up and if it takes, say, 20 mins to actually do the research and drive the further distance to the cheaper station then you have 'worked' for only $15/hour. (plus any extra petrol you use driving to a more distant station). that's barely more than minimum wage.

my "shopping around" go along the lines of - there a gull / bp within 100m of each other on one of my ways home from work & the bp price machtes the gull, so i go that way home when i need petrol, pull into the bp and use my aa smartcard for another 6c off. I find gull is 99.9% of the time cheapish place to get petrol, due to "Gull and their cheap'n'nasty tax dodging 91 fuel." (also find it does not do as much KM on a tank gas) but with bp price macthing i get 6c off and not have gull ethanol petrol to boot.

sbiddle: I've seen Caltex sites selling 95 for 11c litre more than 91. With BP and Z only charging 8c more you have to be careful your 6c discount isn't swallowed by their inflated retail price!

^^ this is something I have realised of late around the gas stations on my way to/from work....Caltex and BP (who use to AA card 6 cents off), always seem to be about 8-10c more expensive....so while I don't hunt around for the cheapest price, I am dubious as to their pricing methods now, so will just keep an eye out on all the gas stations to/from work and fill up at the cheapest (without going out of my way)...in the last 2 months I have not used my AA card, but have saved more than I would have if I did :(

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